Title:  Hanover House
Series:  Hanover House Chronicles 0.5 prequel
Author:  Brenda Novak
Genre:  Thriller, Mystery, Romance
Published:  September 1, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating:  5 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

Psychiatrist Evelyn Talbot has dedicated her life to solving the mysteries of the antisocial mind. Why do psychopaths act as they do? How do they come to be? Why don’t they feel any remorse for the suffering they cause? And are there better ways of spotting and stopping them?

After having been kidnapped, tortured and left for dead when she was just a teenager—by her high school boyfriend—she’s determined to understand how someone she trusted so much could turn on her. So she’s established a revolutionary new medical health center in the remote town of Hilltop, Alaska, where she studies the worst of the worst.

But not everyone in Hilltop is excited to have Hanover House and its many serial killers in the area. Alaskan State Trooper, Sergeant Amarok, is one of them. And yet he can’t help feeling bad about what Evelyn has been through. He’s even attracted to her. Which is partly why he worries.

He knows what could happen if one little thing goes wrong…

Read on for my thoughts on Hanover House.  No true spoilers, promise.

Hanover House draws you in from the opening pages and never lets up its grip until the very last word.  This novel is the fascinating setup story or prequel to the Hanover House Chronicles series which becomes available in 2016.

Evelyn Talbot is interviewing one of the last inmates she is deciding on for incarceration at the new prison/mental health facility in Hilltop, Alaska.  Hanover House has been her life’s work dream come true, not that she hasn’t worked her butt off to get it funded and placed for years.  It’s location or possible location has changed many times since no one wants nothing but a prison full of psychopath serial killers in their backyard.  The Alaska location became official when there were not enough people in the small town to protest it successfully.

This particular inmate had caught her off guard and bodyslammed her at their first meeting.  Determined to show no fear, Evelyn is meeting with him again for one last time.  This meeting is more for her benefit than Hugo’s.  She will never again allow any man or anyone to get the upper hand over her.  No one will frighten her to that point again.

The small town of Hilltop isn’t much in the Alaskan wilderness.  Beyond Anchorage, its biggest claim to fame so far is good hunting and fishing.  Soon that will change.  The residents are extremely leery of Hanover House and there has been vandalism at the construction site.  On Evelyn’s fast trip to Alaska she is dealing with the damage, getting a guard set up and struggling with a newfound attraction to Sergeant Amarok of the Alaskan State Troopers – and basically the only lawman in Hilltop.  After a night of drinks at the local bar – to show the locals that she is approachable Evelyn is thinking how attractive Amarok really is.  A completely foreign concept to her.

Since her attack 15 years ago, Evelyn has had no relationships.  No dating.  No kissing.  And certainly no to anything beyond that as well.  Her attacker was her high school boyfriend, Jasper.  When he turned into a killer and tortured her for days only leaving her when he thought she was dead – that was the last time she trusted a man enough to let them close.  Sergeant Amarok has different ideas.

What no one knows is that Jasper is alive and tracking Evelyn again.  He plans to finish what he left undone.

Hanover House is an intense, emotional thriller.  With a serial killer on her tail, Evelyn is in danger once again.  Yes, there is a set up of a possible romance, remember that Evelyn has been traumatized and has major trust issues with men.  So romance is gonna go slow.  In order to understand her drive for this new facility, Hanover House, we need to understand what Evelyn went through in the past and currently.  And finally we needed to realize exactly just how crazy sick Jasper is and understand that he will stop at nothing to get to Evelyn.  It’s as simple as him or her.

So there is a lot of setup here, but it is contained in a very chilling, intense and engaging story.  I would not hesitate to recommend Hanover House to any mystery, thriller or even romance reader.  This is a novel and eventual series that really captures the reader.  I’m looking forward to the release of the first novel sometime in September 2016 at this point.

*I received an e-ARC of Hanover House from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

Available in paperback or for the Kindle